Friday, May 18, 2007

The shattering of Cameron's Conservatives' family-friendly image

I share the astonishment expressed by other bloggers about the treatment of the Mayor of Salford in 2005. What utterly flabbergasts me is this:

Paul Gilroy, QC, for Trafford council, said that the mayor had the option of expressing milk then allowing someone else to feed her son.

Only a man with considerable separation from the child-rearing process could make such a remark. When I recall all the pain we went through as parents to try to go the breast-feeding route...The idea that someone would suggest throwing away all that hard work and persistence by using expressed milk is just staggering.

The report continues:

She recalled a meeting with the council's leader, Susan Williams, to discuss her future role as mayor.

Ms Williams had raised the concerns of the mayoral attendants, Peter Garde and Stuart Mann, that they would be "seen as nannies".

Mrs Lane told her that she intended to breast-feed her son. The council leader allegedly replied: "Get him on the bottle as soon as possible."

Oh I see. So all the consensus tells parents that breast-feeding is the healthiest option. But stuff all that advice because, presumably, of the 'dignity of the mayoral car'. Brilliant.

I note that the leader of Trafford council, Susan Williams, is a Conservative. This is presumably all part of David Cameron's shiny new family friendly image for the Conservative party.